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SPEECH OF SAMUEL WEBB, 



IN THE 



NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION 



HELD AT 



ALBANY, NY. 



ON THE FIRST DAY OF AUGUST, 



1839 



PHILADELPHIA: 
MERRIHEW AND THOMPSON, PRINTERS, 

No. 7 Carter's Alley. 

1840. 






, 14/ 3 ^ ^ 



SPEECH OF SAMUEL WEBB, 

IN THE 

NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION AT ALBANY, 
August 1st, 1839. 

The Business Committee having reported the following resolutions — 

" 1, Resolved, That we will neither vote for, nor support the election of any man 
for President, or Vice President of the United States, or for Governor or Lieutenant 
Governor, or for any legislative office, who is not in favor of the immediate ABOLI- 
TION OF SLAVERY. 

" 2. Resolved, That every abolitionist who has a right to vote, be earnestly entreated 
to lose no opportunity to carry his abolition principles to the polls, and thereby cause 
our petitions to be heard through the medium of the ballot-box. 

"3. Whereas, The subject of nominating distinct anti-slavery candidates for offices 
in the gift of the people, has been presented to this Convention, — Therefore, 

" Resolved, That it be recommended to abolitionists to adopt such covarse in their 
respective sections of country, in regard to this matter, as will, in their judgment, 
best subserve the cause of immediate abolition." 

Samuel Webb, Chairman of said Committee, addressed the Convention as follows : 

Allow me to embrace this opportunity to state some of the reasons 
which have induced me, and which I hope will incline you to vote for 
these resolutions. 

Upon the result of your deliberations rest the hopes and the fears of 
" Our countrymen in chains." 

There was a time when the virtuous and the good freely and fear- 
lessly exercised their right to think, — to write, — to print, — to pub- 
lish, — to speak, and to act, in behalf of suffering humanity — When 
such men as Lay, Benezet, Franklin, and Lafayette, dared to plead 
for the rights of colored Americans. 

Now, so far from being able to plead successfully for them, we have 
occasion to speak of and for ourselves — our own rights have been as- 
sailed ! It is no longer a question of slavery for the black man, but 
of liberty for the white man ! Our respectful petitions to our represen- 
tatives in our national legislature, have been contemptuously thrown 
upon the table — our constitutional right of enjoying freedom in each 
and in every State of this Union has been denied — a Senator in Con- 
gress has publicly and tauntingly threatened us with death if we dare 
come to the South, and our own Senators tamely heard the insulting 
threat, without daring to repel that audacious menace. Shall we si- 
lently submit to such indignities? No! 

" If we have whispered truth, whisper no longer ! — 
Speak as the tempest does, sterner and stronger .'" 
Let us no longer prostrate ourselves before the South in the humble 
and despised attitude of petitioners, but arising in the native majesty of 
freemen, let us say to the haughty southron : 

" Thus far shalt thou go, but no farther." 
Let us avail ourselves of the power which belongs to us as American 
citizens — and by a proper, firm, independent, and unanimous use 



[ 4 ] 

of the elective franchise, make them hear us through the ballot-box, 
wherein 

" We have a weapon firmer set, 

And better than the bayonet. — 

A weapon that comes down as still 

As snow-flakes fall upon the sod, 

But executes a freeman's will 

As lightning does the will of God." 
We must concentrate our strength. Few parties have commenced 
under more favorable circumstances. Few have had such an array 
of numbers and of talent as we can command if we unite together, and 
pursue one uniform system of operations ; if we organize now we may 
soon be able to send large majorities into the legislatures of all the free 
states, and even into "the legislature for the District of Columbia," 
and by the year 1844 will be able to elect a President. 

Advocating liberty and equality of legal rights, (irre- 
spective of wealth or poverty, occupation or color,) we 
will be the only truly ''democratic party'' and will be 
the acknowledged friends of the laborers, the working 
men, the mechanics and the farmers. 

Slavery and democracy are antagonist principles, and those who in 
sincerity hold to the one, must of necessity reject the (other : to pre- 
tend to be in favor of both, is like blowing hot and cold at the same 
instant. 

The " leading politicians" of the South, and the /oZZomn^ politicians 
at the North, appear to have adopted the maxim that " those ivho think 
ought to govern those who work," and the slaveholder boldly tells his 
laborers they " have no right to think," and his apologist at the 
North is of the same mind in relation to the northern laborers, only 
he dares not tell them so ! No ! — the hard-handed, but honest-heart- 
ed working-men of the North are beginning to think for themselves, 
and already they /eeZ that they are capable o{ self-government ; — they 
will not much longer be led by a few designing, speculating, trading 
politicians, whose only care is to get the largest possible share of" the 
spoils" of public office for themselves, and to give as little as possible 
to the laboring part of the community. 

The time has come when this nation must be divided, not by geo- 
graphical, but by moral land-marks. 

A new division of parties must take place ! The friends of freedom 
must either organize and assert their rights, or else withdraw from 
the contest, and leave the slaveholders and their slaves to settle the 
question of liberty between themselves as they best can. Our present 
false position must be abandoned, if we wish to aid in abolishing 
slavery. 

The political parties of the present day, like Nebuchadnezzar's 
image, are composed of gold and silver — brass, (in abundance,) iron — 
and last, if not least, of Clai; ! and like that image, they shall foil, 
never more to arise. Then shall their iron despotism, their clay so- 
phistry, their brazen impudence, their silver and gold, their " bribery 



I 



[ 5 ] 

and corruption," be broken to pieces, and become like the chafTof the 
summer threshing-floors, and the wind shall carry them away, that no 
place be found for them, and the stone which was cut out of the 
mountain without hands, even the truth, which we advocate, shall be- 
come a great mountain, and fill the whole earth. 

A struggle for liberty is about to take place in this country. The 
people will take sides — the present political parties will be succeeded 
by TWO great parties, which, like Aaron's rod, will swallow up all 
the rest — namely, the friends of liberty, au^ the advocates of slavery , 
between whom the distinction will be so plain, that each individual 
will know (and others will know) on which side he is : — there will be 
no neuters! every individual will belong either to the free party or to 
the slaveholding party, — " men of principle in proportion to their in- 
terest," — " northern men with southern feelings," — those of but one 
principle, " and that all intekest" — men of no principle at all — 
" men of but one idea,'' and that, " the idea of the exaltation of self' — 
and those of no definite ideas of any thing, (except of loaves and 
fishes,) will all have to take sides — they can no longer continue " non- 
committaV — " he that is not against us, is for us." — Liberty or slave- 
ry ! will be the watch-word during the canvass, and the reward or the 
punishment attendant upon success or defeat. Neither you, nor I, nor 
all of us can prevent this state of things from occurring. We might 
as well undertake to dam the Hudson with a sheaf of straw, as to try 
to stop the current of events which are about to transpire. Our ene- 
mies, — the enemies of liberty, and consequently the enemies of our 
country, — will drive us into it : no sacrifice which we can make will 
avert the approaching storm: — so, meet it we must, in open, manly, 
honorable, peaceable, and constitutional resistance ; or in mean, tame, 
cowardly submission. Such is the present condition of things, that 
slavery cannot much longer exist in this country. 

Are we, the proud United States of America, more powerful than 
Great Britain in her high estate, when the 3d George reigned over an 
empire on which the sun never set, and of which this young and haughty 
nation then formed an integral, but unimportant part? 

England, (which before and since, has held her own against the 
world,) with all her mighty power, could not hold in bondage three 
millions of people determined to be free ! Bonaparte with all ihe 
power of France, sufficient to enable him to shake the thrones of Eu- 
rope, was unable to conquer the handful of liberated slaves in St. Do- 
mingo ! And shall we, the people of the United States, with (compa- 
ratively speaking) the weakest civilized government on carfh, shall 
we attempt to imitate their folly, and, like them, fail in that unholy 
undertaking? Shall we, with our extended territory o^.'"°I%*r'" ^ 
thousand millions of acres of arable land, contamed in ^,^^7,UUU 
square miles, (or a little more than l-20th part of the land surfecc of 
the earth,) with our 2,900 miles of sea-board along the Atlantic Ocean 
and the Gulf of Mexico, 500 miles along the Pacific Ocean, and 5,900 
miles inland boundaries, making altogether 9,300 miles of sea coast 
and frontier boundaries, (nearly all of which are at present defence- 
less,)-with our mightv rivers, of hundreds and thousands of miles in 



[ 6 ] 

length, intersecting the whole breadth of our country ; — with our 
almost inaccessible mountains and interminable forests, affording shelter 
if not sustenance to the enemy — exposed on the East and South to 
attacks from the ocean, on the North to collisions with one if not two 
of the most powerful nations of Europe, and on the West to inroads from 
desperate savages, rendered so by our own treachery and injustice, — with 
every ffth man, woman, and child in the nation, turned into natural ene- 
mies by our merciless cruelty and oppression, and ready, on the first 
suitable occasion, to seize upon their lost rights, even (if need be) by 
the extinguishment of ours — Shall we have the Heaven-daring pre- 
sumption to undertake to do what no other nation, however powerful, 
has ever yet been able to accomplish ? To keep three millions of men 
in perpetual personal bondage is impossible. Such attempts have 
always failed, and can never be successful. 

" Never ! I tell thee, Carolina, never /" 

That national sins produce national punishments, is as consistent 
with right and reason as with revelation. Think not, because the 
slaves have borne and forborne, that they will bear for ever — Go! trust 
the slumbering volcano! — sleep in the very centre of its crater, rather 
than trust to the treacherous submission of three millions of slaves ! 
It is the deceitful apparent calm in the centre of a storm. 

The slaves have been lulled into quietude by the expectation that 
the friends of freedom at the North could and would prevail upon their 
masters at the South to give them m'^ freely, to let them go peaceably — 
but let it once be known and understood by the slaves that ive have 
done all we could — that we can do no more, and that relief/rom us is 
hopeless — then will desperation lead them to seek liberty in conquest 
or in DEATH. 

To show that intelligent men at the South entertain similar views, I 
will request the Secretary to read an extract from a letter written by 
a native of Virginia, (late pastor of a congregation there,) and pub- 
lished at Lexington, Kentucky. 

[The Secretary, Joshua Leavitt, then read the following extract 
from Letters on Slavery, by J. D. Paxton.] 

" Such is the state of things at the South with regard to slavery, that whatever our 
wiahes may be, I can see liefore us but three alternatives. Either we must free our 
s\aves, and separate and colonize them abroad, — or free, and permit them to remain 
among us,— or, before long, have conflict with them, and finally leave them in pos- 
session of a large portion of the South. 

" I well know that each of these alternatives will seem bitter as the wormwood and 
llie gall to many ; and in proportion to their aversion to them will be their unwill- 
ingness to admit that such is our condition. This, however, does not alter the case, 
nor the facts thai go directly to prove it. We have above two millions of colored 
people now, [18.')r,.1 They increase in the South more rapidly than the whites. — 
We have often been abirnied with those now possessed, and serious perils have been 
narrowly escaped. What will it be with four or eight millions, which some of us 
may see, and sixteen, which many of our children may seel To suppose that such 
a state of things would not lead to conflict, is to suppose a thing so improbable, that 
it would be unwise to calculate on it. The products about which slave-labor is em- 
jdoyed, would not support such a mass of people. A cfiunifc must of luccssily lake 
jtlace in their relulions to their otvncrs. But the love ol freedom has ever led slaves 
to seek it by force. All history proves this. That such a spirit is now felt among 



[ 7 ] 

our slaves is past dispute. That it will increase with their increase and improve- 
ment, no one need doubt. Freedom or conflict is as certain as the march of time, 
and no common conflict will it be; all history proves that such conflicts assume the 
worst forms : of all conflicts, such ought, with most care and foresight, to be avoided. 
There is much reason to fear, that unless the great body of them are freed, or some 
great change made in their condition, within the next thirty or forty years, they will 
contend, and that successfully, for their freedom. Should their first efforts fail, still 
confidence and peace would be destroyed. Who could live in peace among them 
with the knowledge that he was on a volcano, that might, at any successive hour, 
burst and work his ruin ! 

"In such a state of things, it is the part of wisdom to yield to necessity ; to let 
them have, without contest, what they assuredly will contend for, and sooner or 
later succeed in getting ,- and it would be well lo let them have it, in a way that 
would make some amends for the past, and secure their good will for the lime to 
come." 

Mr. Webb continued : — 

This is what some would call an " incendiary publication" — sent 
from the South to the North. 

It shows how a freeman dared speak in a slate state when address- 
ing slaveholders on the subject of slavery. 

We have heard the vain boastings of some of the slaveholders at the 
South. They say that all they ask of us is to let them alone — that 
they are not afraid of their slaves. Neither is a drunkard afraid of 
the contents of his bottle, which all sober people know is working out 
his destruction. The slaveholders are intoxicated with slavery as 
completely as a drunkard is intoxicated with strong drink. 

But if they are not afraid, then why did they allow themselves to be 
thrown into consternation and alarm, when the imbecile NAT TUR- 
NER, with an insignificant rabble at his heels, without any reasonable 
prospect of success — without concert of action — without internal re- 
sources, and Avithout foreign aid, madly attempted to rebel 1 It shook 
" the ancient dominion" to its centre ! Not afraid of their slaves ? 
Then why attempt to prevent the discussion of their rights? Why sleep 
with loaded pistols under their pillows ? Yes, they are afraid ! disguise 
it as they may, they are afraid, and so are we, and so ought every re- 
flecting man to be, who " trembles for his country when he remembers 
that God is just, and that his justice will not sleep for ever!" 

In a subject of such vital importance to our country, without refer- 
ence to the peculiar views, religious, moral, benevolent, or political, of 
any society to which any of us may belong, let us take that enlarged 
view of the subject which statesmen and patriots ought to take, who 
see men as they are, not as they ought to be, and who, taking things 
as we find them, and understanding human nature as it is, provide 
against ihe future from a knowledge of the past, and from an acquamt- 
ance with the human heart, forsee the probable course which large 
masses of men will pursue under probable circumstances. 

In order to elucidate the subject, it will not be necessary to refer to 
accurate tables. Let us, therefore, assume the present population of 
the United States to be fifteen millions of free persons, and three mil- 
lions of slaves, in which case the slaves equal one-fifth of the free 
population, to say nothing of free blacks, or of large numbers of in- 
jured, exasperated Indians within or near our territories; (a handful 



[ 8 ] 

of whom it would appear from the War in Florida, are almost an even 
match for the military prowess of this great nation.) 

The three millions of slaves are probably held by less than three hun- 
dred thousand masters or mistresses ! ! ! (as the case may be.) These 
slaveholders, therefore, are not more than one-sixtieth part of the entire, 
or one-fiftieth part of the free population. 

These are serious considerations, when, uplifting the veil of futurity, 
we look towards coming events ; among which are shadowed forth in 
bold relief, three direful calamities, namely : civil commotions, foreign 
invasion, and servile war ! one of which, at least, without a special in- 
terposition of Providence, will probably take place, unless this nation 
shall repent of the evil of their ways, and by an act of justice toward 
their slaves, avert the doom which is hanging over us. 

Perhaps it may be said we are unnecessarily jToreiofZin^ evil — that 
the present political parties are not to be as ephemeral as has been 
supposed, or if they are, other combinations will be formed, and new 
divisions of the people take place, irrespective of the question of liberty 
or slavery? So much the loorse ! for IF SLAVERY BE NOT 
ABOLISHED, who dares to say that the time will not come, when 
our free white population, in the strife for office, in their mad career 
after ascendancy, will be divided into two highly excited, conflicting, 
antagonist parties, (which, when the increments of talent, wealth, and 
numbers are all taken into the account, will be nearly equally divided,) 
when such a crisis shall arrive, need I point out the power that will 
decide between us. 

General Jackson's address to the colored people of Louisiana, both 
before and after the battle of New Orleans, shows too plainly where 
military chieftains would look to sustain themselves and their party 
under even less desperate circumstances. Who will then dictate the terms 
upon which this great augmentation of physical force shall be obtain- 
ed? The blacks themselves, of course, — not their masters. No ! the 
very overture will prove them to be their own masters, if not the mas- 
ters of the whites ; for where the strength of conflicting parties is 
nearly equal, whoever holds the balance of power between them, is, or 
can make himself or themselves the masters of both. History confirms 
this so fully as to need no further proof at this time ; and who knows 
but that in the inscrutable wisdom of God, this may be the mode by 
which we may be punished for having exterminated one race of men, 
and stolen another race to supply their place ; and that these may be 
raised in their turn, to mete unto us that measure which we have so 
unmercifully bestowed upon the helpless aborigines of this land. 

Let children shut their eyes, or turn away their heads, when danger 
is near. Men, Statemen, and Patriots should look it in the face. 

I need not point out the germs of a foreign war — the day is not dis- 
tant when the peculiar relation between us, and one or two of the most 
powerful nations of Europe, will call for more wisdom than at present 
governs this nation, to prove that my fears are groundless. Inde- 
pendent of those extraneous causes, there is that in the peculiar rela- 
tion between the two classes alluded to, which will invite aggression 
from abroad. We are not ignorant that the crowned heads of Europe 



C 9 ] 

feel no special favor toward our experiment of the capability of man 
for self-government; and, narrow as the feeling is, there are those 
among them who would rejoice at our downfall ; besides which, in a 
contest between the slaves and their oppressors, the sympathies of 
nearly all the world, civilized and savage, would be on the side of the 
slave struggling; for liberty. 

If one of the European nations, to avenge a supposed mjury — to 
draw off a portion of its belligerent and troublesome, if not dangerous 
subjects— to gain the applause due to those who relieve the oppressed — 
from cupidity — the desire to monopolize the trade — from ambition, or 
from any other or worse motive, should send a fleet with eight or ten 
thousand warriors, each with a promise of promotion, (if not with a 
commission in his pocket,) to take effect upon their arrival in America, 
and land this nucleus of an army at, or near Charleston, or some other 
southern port, offering security, " free trade," and speedy fortunes ! to 
the renegado whites, and liberty and land to the blacks; who can 
doubt kit such an army, composed of the very elite of the military 
men of modern Europe, now out of employ, and ripe for any warlike 
adventure, trained under Bonaparte, Wellington, or Blucher, could by 
such promises, in a ^ew weeks, seduce to their standard one hundred 
thousand able-bodied colored men, and with these march from New 
Orleans, or x\ugusta, to Philadelphia, or New York, ravaging the in- 
tervening country with fire and sword, and laying every city, town, 
and village along the sea-board under contribution, and thus make us 
pay the expenses of the war ! England was deterred from doing this 
during the last war, only from a fear for their own islands: that 
check is now entirely removed. 

Frederick II, King of Prussia, could take a raw recruit, who had 
never bestrode a horse, and in two weeks make him a first rate 
ti-ooper — in that same time how much easier would it be to qualify 
such an individual for a foot soldier? Besides which, these soldiers, 
so trained and tutored by the most experienced captains of the day, 
would all be hardy, able-bodied men, — acclimated and inured to hun- 
ger and privations beyond the endurance of northern men. Such is 
the valor of the freemen of this nation, that in a good cause they could 
accomplish anything but impossibilities ; but our Florida war has 
proved that it is impossible for them to compete with the hardy slaves, 
and the restless, ever-watchful Indians, who, accustomed to hunger, to 
nakedness, and privation from all the comforts, and many of the ne- 
cessaries of life— practically acquainted with the topography and geo- 
graphy of the country, would be an overmatch for ten times their 
number from the North, unaccustomed to the climate, and, above all, 
to the deprivations and sufferings that would attend them amid the 
miasmas of the low lands and swamps, (" the malaria" of America,) 
particularly when their cause is unjust before God, and cruel in the 
sight of men. 

In this " wooden country," with but few roads, and those narrow 
and bad— intercepted by forests, streams, and morasses, an army 
much exceeding one hundred thousand men could not operate to ad- 
vantage. A much larger number would be in each other's way, and 

2 



[ 10 ] 

would require more to sustain them than they were worth, (in a mili- 
tary point of view,) particularly if the enemy were supported by a 
maritime nation, with sufficient naval force to insure them a sup- 
ply of provisions, in case of necessity, and to prevent such a supply 
to us. 

Three millions of people having every thing to gain, and little or no- 
thing to lose, could as easily furnish one or two hundred thousand 
soldiers as fifteen millions could or would, who have much to lose, and 
little or nothing to gain by such an unholy conflict. And whenever 
the red thunderbolt of war is let loose in judgment over this guilty 
land, it will, in all probability, be accompanied, not only by servile, 
but by civil war. 

Let us turn from this dreadful picture to one of a more mercenary 
character, yet not less interesting to some at the North, as well as to 
those who reside at the South. 

The three millions of slaves, held by less than one-fiftieth part of 
the free population, are worth, in the market, about ten hundred mil- 
lions of dollars ! ! (giving to each slaveholder an average estate, in 
slaves, of about $3,333.) 

If the slaves are worth that to their masters and mistresses, notwith- 
standing all the disadvantages and disabilities under which they labor, 
surely they would be worth more to themselves, were they certain of 
receiving and enjoying their earnings, and free to do the best they 
could for themselves and their own families, and no longer bound to 
labor for the support of the master or his family. 

In that case, the nett proceeds, or clear profits, arising from their 
labor, would bo double what it now is, and of course they would be 
worth double to themselves what they now are to their masters. As 
to what they are worth to themselves, even under present circum- 
stances, ask runaway slaves ! and those who have not runaway, but 
who have purchased themselves. Where is the human being, having 
the natural feelings of a man, a husband, or a father, who could mea- 
sure by dollars and cents the value of liberty to himself, his wife, his 
child, or his parent? Therefore it is a very low estimate, to say the 
slaves are worth no more to themselves than to their masters. Accord- 
ing to the opinion o^ some people, if the slaves are liberated, it will be 
a loss to the mastrsrs, equal to their present value ; and we have seen 
that at all events it will be at least that much gain to the emancipated 
slaves ; so that if the masters are to lose, and the slaves to gain that 
great sum, it will make two billions (or two thousand millions) of dol- 
lars ; and shows the magnitude of the stake for which large masses of 
men are about to contend, peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must. 
The pecuniary value of the colored people to us, the free people of the 
North, whether they remain as slaves or as freeman, will depend upon 
which of the two classes can produce the staple articles of the South 
the cheapest — or in other words, whether voluntary or involuntary la- 
bor will raise the greater quantity of sugar, cotton, tobacco, «fcc., for 
a given expenditure or outlay ? and also, whether three hundred thou- 
sand masters holding their laborers as slaves without umges, and almost 
without any choice on the part of the slaves, as to what or how much 



[ 11 J 

they shall consume, will be as good customers for the articles tve have 
to sell, as three millions of free people at liberty to consume as much 
as their labor can pay for ? 

The answer to both these questions must be in favor of voluntary 
laborers, if the 'profits of their labor be secured to them. 

Free colored men could and would raise more produce, and, conse- 
quently, at a cheaper rate, than that produced by the forced labor of 
slaves. And as to the articles which northern men produce, the mar- 
ket would be increased almost ten-fold if the slaves were set free. 

At present, the slaveholders have their houses furnished, their ward- 
robes supplied, their implements of labor, such as they are, already 
provided: but convert these slaves into three millions of freemen, and 
they will have exiery thing to buy as fast as the profits of their labor 
will enable them to purchase. Tools, household furniture, hats, boots, 
shoes, clothing of all kinds, the fabrics from our looms, the produce of 
our soil, bread stuifs, cattle, in short everything we could spare, would 
find a ready market among them. 

Shall we then reject these customers for the sake of one-tenth the 
number, who are not only sufficiently supplied for the present, but 
many of whom, from their indolent habits, and more especially from 
the ruinous system of culture by slave labor, are, or soon will become 
insolvent ; and who may find out " a new way to pay old debts," by 
crying " abolition''' against that man who dares to venture among 
them and attempt to compel payment of his dues. Such an individual, 
whatever might have been his previous opinion of the " peculiar institu- 
tion" of the South, might think himself happy to leave his debtors, and 
escape with his life, without a coat of tar and feathers. 

A late intelligent southern writer, in a communication upon the 
value of cotton, dated New Orleans, March 10, 1839, says, — " Planters 
of all countries and colonies, have ever considered it a reasonable li- 
berty taken with their creditors, to pay at their own pleasure, promtZec? 
they paid at all." 

I do not say that this would always be the result, for when slave- 
holders have the money, they are generally free to pay their debts, 
upon the old maxim of" come light, go light." But when " times are 
hard," and they think " the South is ruined by a tariff," or by *' a 
bank for the accommodation of the North," who will say they are not a 
little waspish? — Whereas, if the slaves were converted into freemen, 
and commenced business on their own account, although it should be 
without capital, so it would be without debt, and in most instances 
they might be safely trusted with small amounts "i goods, and then, 
when those became due and payable, there would be no danger in going 
there to collect old debts and give new credits. 

The value of the colored people to the citizens of the free States, 
does not always depend upon considerations of a pecuniary character. 
At present, the influence of the constitutional one-fifth, added to the 
slaveholding suffrage, without a corresponding or compensating equi- 
valent to the citizens of the North, added to the incantation, the unholy 
charm, which through this " peculiar institution" (of the Devil) binds 
the South together, gives them such ascendancy in this union, that one 



[ 12 ] 

fiftieth part rule the other forty-nine-fiftieths, or in other words, one 
man controls forty-nine men, as equally entitled to rule as himself I 
Thus raising up an odious oligarchy, contrary to the spirit and mean- 
ing of the Federal compact. 

Were the three millions of new made freemen admitted to citizen- 
ship upon as favorable terms as we admit the greatest strangers on 
earth, even such as " leave their country for their country's good," it 
would not be long before the value of their votes would be duly appre- 
ciated by those very demagogues who, at present^ are wickedly at- 
tempting to foist themselves into office by trampling upon the rights of 
the colored man. It would take away from the slaveholders about 
seventy-five thousand votes, and add to the free suff"rage about 375,000 
votes, making a difference in the result of from 450,000 to half a mil- 
lion of votes, a number not to be overlooked or despised. 

Let us pause to consider whether it is wise, fair, politic, or right, 
that one-fiftieth part should control all the rest of the white population 
in this or in any other respect. We of the North lose much, in a 
pecuniary point of view, every year, to say nothing of the humiliation 
and degradation attending submission to the arbitrary will of a few, 
and the deterioration of both colors by the unhallowed process of 
amalgamation. It is the infamous seraglio of the South, that is the 
great barrier to the abolition of slavery — like Pharoah, they might be 
prevailed upon to let the men go, but not the women ! ! 

It is not in times o^ peace alone that we should be made to feel the 
value of these three millions of people, who, liberated as we propose, 
would then have every thing to lose and nothing to gain from foreign 
invasion, and, consequently, would contribute their full shai'e to the 
public defence. 

Nor is this all. When the city in which I reside was visited by 
yellow fever — when pestilence and death stalked through the streets 
morning and evening — when terrified fathers forsook their children — 
children their parents — husbands their wives, and wives their hus- 
bands — (many honorable exceptions) — when at high noon our most 
publicstreets were deserted, and all was as still and sullen as midnight, 
save the screams of the delirious and the dying, intermingled with 
the rumbling of the chair-wheels [a temporary hearse] as it hastened 
the dead to their last homes ; yet amidst all this consternation and 
alarm, whilst thousands of citizens were flying in terror from the 
doomed city, the colored people generally remained, and frequently 
performed the last sad duties to the sick and the dying — (without dis- 
tinction as to color.) Rut the good deeds of Mordecai were all for- 
gotten by the wicked Human — " The evil that men do lives after them, 
the good is oft interred with their bones." 

If the commerce of three millions of new made freemen be more 
valuable than that of one-tenth their number of slaveholders, how much 
more so would be their votes — their taxes — and their aid in times of 
contagion, invasion, or danger. Now, one-fifth of their number are 
represented by white men in Congress, thus conferring an aristocrati- 
cal distinction between the freemen of the South and those of the 
North. They are either represented (or rather misrepresented) be- 



[ 13 ] 

cause they are men, or else " chattels personal.'''' If as men, then 
why not let each man count one? If as " chattels personal, to all in- 
tents and purposes whatever," then why not let us be entitled to addi- 
tional representatives, in virtue of our horses, our cattle, and other 
"chattels personal." 

We have frequently been asked by slaveholders, — " What can we 
do/ If you will only point out some way by which we can abolish 
slavery without ruining ourselves and our families, we will be as 
ready to abolish slavery as you are, but will you pay us for our 
property," &c. &c. 

Strange as it may sound, I assuredly believe this is the easiest part 
of the subject under consideration. But, if we show that they can 
abolish slavery without injury to the master — the slave — or to those 
who hold neither of these unenviable relations, will they do it ? try 
them. 

Let the slaveholders, by the act of their own legislatures, or other 
competent authority, surrender their slaves, and their real estate, at 
their present valve, to the commissioners of the county, or other suit- 
able persons appointed by law for that purpose, and receive certificates 
of stock for the same, bearing a low interest. Let all the slaves be 
immediately emancipated, and slavery abolished for ev^r ! — Then let 
the land be rented out in suitable portions, to be cultivated by free 
labor, (white or black,) until it can be sold in small lots, say 50 to 
100 acres each, at an average price equal to cost and charges, includ- 
ing the value of the slaves. It is the division of land which makes it 
valuable. Take twenty thousand acres for instance, and sell it out in 
100 acre lots, to 200 actual settlers, who will go to work on it with 
spirit, and it will immediately increase in value from fifleen to fifty 
per cent. The lands in such of the slave States as I am acquainted 
with, could immediately rise to that value. In fact it would be a pro-' 
fitable speculation to buy all the land and slaves in Delaware, Mary- 
land, and Virginia at their present prices — set the slaves free, and 
for ever abolish slavery there, and then sell out the land in suitable 
sized farms. (The great agricultural error in this country \s farming 
too much land in proportion to the means of the cultivator.) That 
such would be the result, compare the present value of land in Penn- 
sylvania, and other old free States, with that of land in Delaware, 
Maryland and Virginia. Will any one venture to assert that the lands 
of the slave States are not as good as those of the free States! Com- 
pare Loudon county and the great valley of Virginia with Lancaster 
county and the great valley of Pennsylvania : or the low lands of Vir- 
ginia, Maryland, and Delaware, poor and barren as they have become 
by the exhausting course of slave labor, but abounding with marl, with 
shells, and other manures, (so called) and compare these with the bar- 
ren pine-lands of New Jersey, which the freemen of that State are now 
recovering from their original sterility, until it excites no surprise to 
see, from one to two tons of clover and timothy per acre, where for- 
merly little else grew but Indian grass and worthless bushes. Or, with 
the stony ground of New England, reclaimed and ameliorated by the 
labor of the descendants of Pilgrim Fathers. I am hold to say, that 



[ 14 ] 

with/ree labor, and a proper application of " marl" (green sand,) four- 
teen per cent, of which is a strong alkaline substance, well adapted to 
the growth of clover, these lands can be made to produce as good ave- 
rage grass, or grain crops, as the generality of land in any other State 
along the sea-board. 

Edmund Rvffin, a gentleman of Virginia, (who does not appear to 
condemn slavevy from principle, whatever he may say of the prac- 
tice,) in his essay on calcarious manures, discloses the startling secret, 
that slave labor is not only profitless, but ruinous. His authority is 
so unquestionable, that I will take the liberty of asking the secretary 
to read a couple of extracts from his interesting work. Speaking of 
lower Virginia, he says : 

[The Secretary then read from the " Supplement to the Farmer's 
Register," as follows : — ] 

" Our condition has been so gradually growing worse, that we are either not aware 
of the extent of the evil, or are in a great measure reconciled by custom to profitless 
labor. No hope for a better state of things can be entertained until we shake off this 
apathy — this excess of contentment which makes no effort to avoid existing evils. 

" The cultivators of eastern Virginia derive a portion of their income from a source 
quite distinct from their tillage — and which, though it often forces them to persist in 
their profitless farming, yet also, in some measure, conceals, and is generally sup- 
posed to compensate for its losses. This source of income is, the breeding and fell- 
ing of slaves — of which, though the discussion of this point will not be undertaken 
here, I cannot concur in the general opinion that it is also a source of profit. 

" It is not meant to convey the idea that any person undertakes, as a regular busi- 
ness, the breeding of slaves, with a view to their sale : but whether it is intended or 
not, all of us, without exception, are acting some part in aid of a general system, 
which, taken altogether, is precisely what I have named. No man \ssoinhuma-i as 
to breed and raise slaves, to sell off a certain proportion regulary, as a western 
drover does with his herds of cattle. But sooner or later the general result is the 
same. Sales may be made voluntarily or by the sheriff— they may be met by the 
first owner, or delayed until the succession of his heirs, or the misfortune of being 
sold, may fall on one parcel of slaves instead of another : but all these are but different 
ways of arriving at the same general and inevitable result. With plenty of whole- 
some, though coarse food, and under such mild treatment as our slaves usually ex- 
perience, they have every inducement and facility to increase their numbers with all 
possible rapidity, without any opposing check, either prudential, moral, or physical. 
These several checks to the increase of population, operate more or less on all free 
persons, whether rich or poor — and slaves, situated as ours are, perhaps are placed in 
the only possible circumstances, in which no restraint whatever prevents the propa- 
gation and increase of the race. 

"From the general existence of this state nf circumstances, the particular effects 
may be naturally deduced : and facts completely accord with what those circum- 
stances promise. A gang of slaves on a farm will often increase to four times their 
original number in thirty or forty years. If a farmer is only able to feed and main- 
tain his slaves, their increase in value may double the whole of his capital originally 
vested in farming, before he closes the term of an ordinary life. But few farms are 
able to support this increasing expense, and also furnish the necessary supplies to the 
family of the owner. Whence very many owners of large estates in lands and ne- 
groes, are, throughout their lives, too pour to enjoy the comforts of wealth, or to en- 
counter the expenses necessary to imi>rove their uni)rofital)le farming. A man so 
situated may be said to be a slave to hit men slaves. If the owner is industrious and 
frugal, he may be able to support the increasing number of his slaves, and to bequeath 
them undiminished to his children. Hut the income of few persons iyicreases so 
fast as their slaves. And if not, the consequence must be, that some of them will 
be sold, that the others may be supported, and the sale of more is perhaps afterwards 



[ 15 ] 



compelled, to pay debts incurred in striving to put off that dreadful alternative, THE 
SLAVE FIRST ALMOST STARVES HIS MASTER, AND AT LAST IS 
EATEN BY HIM — at least he is exchanged for his value in food. The sale of 
slaves is always a severe trial lor their owner. Obstacles are opposed to it, not only 
by sentiments of humanity, and of regard for those who have passed their lives in his 
service — but every feeling he has of false shame comes to his aid ; and such sales 
are generally postponed until compelled by creditors, and carried into effect by the 
sheriff, or by the administrator of the debtor. But when the sale finally takes place, 
its magnitude makes up for all previous delays. Do what we will, the surplus 
slaves must be sent out of a country which is not able to feed them ; and these causes 
continue to supply the immense numbkks that are annually sold and carried 
AWAY FROM LowER VIRGINIA, without cvcu producing the political benefit of less- 
ening the actual number remaining. Nothing can check the forced emigration of 
blacks, and the voluntary emigration of whites, except increased production of food, 
obtained by enriching our lands, and the consequent of farming profits. No effect will 
more certainly follow its cause than this — that whenever our land is so improved as 
to produce double its present supply of food, it will also have, and will retain double 
its present amount of population. The improving farmer who adds one hundred 
bushels of corn to the previous product of his country, effectually adds also to its 
population, as many persons as his increase of product will feed." 

Mr. Webb then continued his remarks, as follows : 
To cure these evils, which he so feelingly depicts, and so bitterly 
deplores, Professor Ruflin recommends spreading lime, or other alka- 
line substances on the land ! ! But a much more effectual mode would 
be to remove the curse of slavery : which, like an incubus upon the 
body politic, is destroyina; the energy of the master, as well as of the 
man — reducing both to pauperism. 

Duty and interest require v^e should do what we can, 
but after all, it is probable the free people of the South 
are more nearly prepared for the immediate abolition of 
slavery than we are, — they see, they feel the evils of it, 
and I do sincerely believe that whenever slavery is 
abolished, the last man who will give his reluctant con- 
sent, will reside north of Mason and Dixon's line. 
£> Out of reach of danger. 

In conclusion, let me add, the present is a time for action — we have 
been talking about the abolition of slavery long enough — let us now (?o 
something that shall produce that result. We can do it — we ought to 
do it — then why shall we not do it ? 

You have heard how the slaveholders could abolish slavery if 
they would, let me tell you how you, the freemen of the North, can 
do it if you tvill. — It need not require more than two of the free States 
to abolish slavery throughout the Union ! — Yes ! the two States of 
New York and Pennsylvania can do it ! without dissolving the Union ! 
The peaceable and voluntary abolition of slavery never will " destroy 
this Union." It is slavery ! unconditional slavery, that will dissever 
the nation — slavery is the box of Pandora, in which is contained all 
the worst evils which will ever befal this country. Had there been no 
slavery, there would not be this agitation about its abolition. The 
way for us to abolish the laws which uphold slavery, is as plain as the 
way to market : — so far as human means can prevail, it is COM- 



[ 16 ] 

PLETE ORGANIZATION, and RIGHT POLITICAL ACTION, 

that will lead us to such a victory " as earth saw never, such as Hea- 
ven stoops down to see." It may require moral suasion and religious 
labor, as well as other means to prepare the ground ; but the farmer 
who would spend all his time in ploughing, would never sow, much 
less would he ever reap. 

The ground is sufficiently broken — in some places it has been plough- 
ed " beam deep" — the seed has been scattered with a bountiful hand — 
" the fields are ripe unto harvest, but, alas ! the laborers are few." 
Yet even that difficulty is about to be removed ; — our youth, — our 
young men, — and may I not say, our young women, are ready to act, 
each in their appropriate sphere ; already they are inviting us to lead 
them onward, in the great struggle for liberty. 

Pennsylvania is the border State. It is there the great moral and 
political battle is to be fought with bloodless weapons, and lost 
or won ! Therefore let all the friends of the slave, every where, aid 
us — sympathize with us — pray for us, — we have difficulties to con- 
tend with there, which many of you know not of. 

All intelligent men know the political importance of Pennsylvania. 
If our thirty electors had not voted for the present incumbent, he would 
not now have been President. In the present ratio of population our 
influence 7nust be felt, and will so continue until the tide of emigration 
shall transfer the balance of power into the Mississippi Valley. The 
glory will then have departed from Israel. 

Those therefore, who can influence the votes of Pennsylvania and 
New York, can thus control the election and appointment of the officers, 
(and of course of the measures) of the general government! If suffi- 
cient exertion were used by the friends of freedom, in Pennsylvania, if 
they could be thoroughly organized and aroused — if they could be in- 
duced to awaken from the lethargy which a too near approximation to 
the confines of slavery is apt to produce, — if we could only be stimu- 
lated to withstand the baleful effects of the Sirocco which occasionally 
sweeps over us from below, the moral Simoon which enervates those 
whom it docs not destroy, — we could cause such a peaceful, joyful 
revolution as would gladden the hearts of the virtuous and good through- 
out Christendom. 

Such is the disruption of parties there, that the friends of freedom, if 
united and completely organized, could assume, and maintain the 
proud pre-eminence of holding the balance between those parties who 
are now seeking for offices, merely for their own individual personal 
advantage. 

Slavery is a political institution — established by law — protected by 
law — and must be abolished by law. Political action, that shall secure 
the election of such men as will repeal the law which makes merchan- 
dise of men, is the only political action we desire, it is all we need, and 
is what we intend to have ! 

We humbly trust, and thankfully believe, that as a body, we do not 
want office or emolument. Oiir sole object is to " break the bands of 
the oppressor," and to " let the captive go free." To redeem our 
country from the stain which our treatment of the colored people have 



[ 17 ] 

brought upon us. Our opponents have forced us to assume the posi- 
tion that we will not vote for such as are opposed to our principles, and 
if we do not now assert our rights at the ballot box, the time is not dis- 
tant when our votes as well as our petilions will not be received. Al- 
I'eady some southern statesmen look down on the white laborers and the 
friends of freedom at the North, as though we were but one degree 
above (or below) their own slaves ! 

Look to it, brethren ! we have duties to perform in this our day, 
duties to our country and to ourselves. We must help ourselves, if 
we wish others to help us. If it were once known and understood, 
that in the free states no man opposed to the abolition of slavery could 
obtain any office whatever, it would not be five years thereafter before 
the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolinia, Kentucky, Tennes- 
see and Missouri (if not Alabama,) would all become free states, by 
their own voluntary legislation ! 

Think of what a great stake we have at issue. It is not merely to 
abolitionize public sentiment at the North, but to " liberate, regenerate, 
disincumber, disenthrall," six of the largest states in this Union, from 
the curse of slavery ! In those states, AT THIS TIME, there is a 
large minority who arc truly and in heart as much opposed to slavery 
as we are, who, from prudential motives, say but little or nothing 
about it. But, let the spirit of freedom travel so far South as to carry 
all before it in Pennsylvania, and then, they will speak openly, what 
now we hardly dare whisper. 

Therefore let us take decided ground, and neither vote for, support, 
nor encourage the election of any man, for any legislative situation 
whatever, who is not in favor of the immediate abolition of slavery. 

Let the friends of slavery see that killing our editors, or burning our 
halls, will not, can not, suppress the spirit of liberty ! — that abolitionists 
are like barometers, the heavier the pressure the higher they will rise ! 
Then the work will be done ! A majority of members favorable to 
liberating the slaves will be returned to Congress, and then, the most 
zealous man in favor of abolition will be Martin Van Buren.* 

* In 1836 the whole number of votes polled for President of the United States is 
said to have been 1,514,053. Of these Martin Van Buren had 754,913. The oppo- 
sition candidates had 759,138, (difference only 4,'225, and \X\sX against Van Buren,) 
which shows how nearly balanced are the ins and the outs. The latter, at the pre- 
sent day, claim to be more in the majority than they were then, and are trying all 
they can to heal their dissensions, and concentrate on one candidate. 

Whenever the friends of freedom shall have a number of votes sufficient to turn 
the election in defiance of the votes of the South, an avowed Anti-Slavery candidate 
will be nominated. Or, in other words, our candidate will be adopted by one or the 
other of the contending parlies ; because WE are contending for principle, THEY 
for interest ,- we for liberty for the slaves, they for the privilege of appropriating to 
themselves the emoluments of office. Hence, whenever we can show that our votes 
are sufficient to place either candidate in the presidential chair, (and that can be best 
shown by all of us voting for one candidate, that is to say, for an abolition candidate 
nominated by ourselves,) then the office seekers will sagely conclude " it will be better 
to let the poor colored people go free than to lose the election" — then will commence 
a desire to obtain abolition votes — each party will endeavor to outdo the other in con- 
cessions in favor of universal liberty — in the practical application of the principles of 

3 



[ 18 ] 

There is one more vulnerable point whereby the friends of freedom 
can attack slavery, which is, to prevail upon Great Britain to prevent 
the importation of the products of slave labor into England and her 
dependencies. 

the Declaration of Independence— until one party, wiser than the other, will declare 
for, and obtain, the abolition of slavery, and thus by one bold stroke of policy, one 
grand effort of humanity, secure not only the abolition vote, but the colored vote also, 
and thus place their party so completely in the ascendant that their political opponents 
will be completely lost for years to come, if not for ever extinguished — " expunged !" 
Whenever the question of the liberty or slavery of the colored population shall be 
made the test by which parties will be divided, the majority will undoubtedly be found 
on the side of liberty. 

In 1836, the free states polled . . 1,058,965 votes 

The slave states only .... 455,086 

Majority in the free states . . . 603,879 

At present the ratio is more in our favor. We will soon have a million and a half 
of votes, whilst the South will then only have about half a million — that is to say, we 
shall have three times as many voters as the South. Hence, it is nothing short oi moral 
cowardice to hesitate any longer. 

In theyVee states Van Buren received . . . 541,201 votes 
The opposition candidates ..... 517,764 



Van Buren's majority in the free states only . 23,437 

In the slave states the opposition received . . 241,374 

Van Buren 213,712 

Opposition majority in the slave states . . 27,662 



Leaving Van Buren in an actual minority of . , . 4,225 
So that a change of 11,719 votes in the free states would have left him altogether 
in the vocative. 

Again. 
Van Buren had a majority in 7 of the free states, 
the same in 7 of the slave states. 

Making for Van Buren 14 states. 

The opposition had a majority in 5 free states. 
the same in 6 slave states. 

Making for the opposition 1 1 states. 

So (counting by states) it would appear as though there was a majority of three 
states in favor of Van Buren. But it only required a change of SIX HUNDRED 
AND EIGHTY-TWO voles to take the majority from four of the Van Buren states 
and give it to the opposition — (say, on an average, only 171 votes in each of these 
4 states ! In which case Van Buren would have had only 10 states, whilst the oppo- 
sition would have had 15 states) — by which it may be seen how few can control the 
destinies of this country ! Then, why hesitate? There are eight hundred thousand 
abolitionists in the United States, of whom, at least, ONE HUNDRED THOU- 
SAND HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE ! 

What a fearful responsibility rests upon them ! Let abolitionists " in the abstract," 
those who arc in favor of political action, (in the abstract,) and those who are in favor 
of the gradual mode of emancipation, by the slow process of moral suasion, reflect 
before it be too late. 



[ 19 ] 

This the British nation could do, by such a gradual increased duties, 
as should effectually di'ive slave produce out of their market, without sen- 
sibly diminishing the supply of the article. If slave labor be more 
profitable than free labor, it will bear it — if not, let it be abandoned. 
And at the same time it might be well to consider whether our tariff" of 
duties on articles which compete with slave labor might not advan- 
tageously be reduced, if not altogether repealed. 

Either take off" the duty, or else open the South to free labor and 
iinproved machinery — then sugar and cotton may be obtained at a 
much cheaper rate than they are now. 

The present duty on brown sugar is between forty and fifty per cent, 
on its original cost. 

An attempt is now making to sustain the high price of cotton by pre- 
vailing upon certain monied institutions to advance more money on the 
cotton than it is worth. 

Cotton can be raised at ten cents per pound, and yield a sufficient 
profit, (even by slave labor,) then how unwise to lend fifteen cents on 
each pound, being fifty per cent, above unavoidable cost and charges. 

Let cotton fall to its real value, and, like other branches of regular 
business, only afford a moderate profit to persevering industry, then 
the price of slaves will fall at least fifty per cent., and then " our 
southern brethren" will be willing to talk, and to hear talk, of the abo- 
lition of slavery, and our northern manufacturers will be able to pur- 
chase the raw material for 331 per cent, below the present prices, 
which will in some measure tend to balance the decreasing duty on our 
manufactured articles. 

Great Britain owns 1,100,000 square miles in British India, a large 
proportion of which is well adapted to the growth of cotton, containing 
an industrious free population of 120 millions of inhabitants — just 
eight times the number of free people in this country, — of whom 100 
millions can be hired at 3tZ. per day ! say for less than $20 per annum ; 
whereas a good slave will sell for $1000, the interest of which is $60 
per annum, being three times the cost of free labor in India, even if the 
slave should never die ; but that is a blessing of which the master can- 
not deprive his slave ; death loill come, and does come, to his relief, 
and ends his suffering with his life ! And then the master must add the 
principal to the interest in calculating the cost of slave labor. 

England can soon supply herself with cotton, and need not hesitate 
a moment in relation to laying a heavy and gradually increasing duty 
on slave raised cotton, until she drives it out of the market. 

A new branch of industry is arising in this country, which, so far 
as it supersedes the use of cotton goods, will, in nearly the same pro- 
portion, supersede the use, and the abuse, of slaves. 

Silk can be profitably produced in the free states ; and even in the 
slave states it has been ascertained that the Morus Multicaulis can be 
more economically cultivated hy free than by slave labor. 

So that whether we view the subject in its political, military, civil, 
moral, or pecuniary aspect, or in whatever light we look at it, we ar- 
rive at this one conclusion, that slavery cannot exist much longer, pro- 
vided we do our duty. 



[ 20 ] 

Therefore, if I have succeeded in showing that our own rights are 
m danger ; that the time has come when we ought to appeal to the 
ballot-box ; that our country is too weak to keep three millions of peo- 
ple in slavery ; that we are in danger of civil commotions, servile war, 
or foreign invasion ; that the holders of slaves are only one-fiftieth of 
our free population ; that two thousand millions of dollars is the enor- 
mous stake for which large masses of men are about to contend ; that 
the interest of the North as well as of the South will be promoted by 
the abolition of slavery ; that it will release the North from thraldom 
to the South ; that it will restore fertility and prosperity to the worn 
out slave states ; that the slaveholders can abolish slavery ; that the 
free states can do it — then may I not hope for your unanimous voice 
in favor of the resolutions ? 

[After a few other members had spoken, the resolutions were, with, 
much unanimity, adopted.] 



NOTE. 

The present pecuniary difficulties under which the people of this nation are now 
suffering, are caused by slavery, by the mistaken political economy of the South, 
where the labor of one working man is expected to maintain three idlers : it is an 
attempt to compel the few to support the many in idleness, which cannot be done. 
In Europe, with much difficulty, the many are marde to support the few, causing 
much hardship, and must eventually be corrected. 

Whether the abolitionists are right or wrong, is not now the question ; we have 
offered to discuss that point in Congress and out of Congress ; have invited others to 
discuss it, but the legislative halls, the churches, and public buildings generally, were 
closed against us, and when we erected a Hall for ourselves, it was destroyed by a 
mob ! therefore little or nothing more need be said upon the subject — " the still vote'^ 
is the peaceful and effectual remedy. 

Let abolitionists remember, that seven anti-slavery members in the legislature of 
New York, could have sent a Friend of Liberty to the United States Senate, — that 
the Governor of Massachusetts has recently been elected by a majority of only one 
vote ! that the electoral ticket for President of the United States, in most of the States, 
is elected by general ballot, (so that every single vote is felt:) therefore, if others do 
not nominate suitable candidates, let abolitionists do it ,- even if there be but one abo- 
litionist in a county, let him nominate himself, and vote for himself; this is no time 
{ot false modesty, we must now act, or it may soon be too late. 

The first overt act of rebellion on the part of the slaves, will bo the signal for us to 
prepare to withdraw from the contest, and a general or extensive insurrection would 
paralyse, perhaps for ever, any and every attempt on our part to effect the immediate 
abolition of slavery by organized action of any kind, moral, political, or religious. 

Read the address of the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Convention, to the co- 
lored people, in the year 1837. 

The following would be a simple but efficient organization, viz. :— yl National 
Committee, aided by Stale, County, City, Ward, Township, and District Commit- 
tees, emanating from, corresponding with, and, to a certain extent, accountable to the 
said National Committee, to whom the subject of political action should be referred, 
with power to act. It is intended to publish the details of the plan in some of the 
anti-slavery papers, (probably the Emancipator,) or else to submit it to a future 
meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 



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